The conference's name was changed to its present form on August 1, 1988.[2] Other names considered were Big North, Great North, North Shore, Northern, Northeastern, Eastern and Eastern Private Intercollegiate.[3]

Two further changes were announced in 2018, with both taking effect with the 2019–20 school year. First, on September 10, the NEC announced it would add Merrimack College.[5] Then, on October 3, Long Island University announced that it would combine its two existing athletic programs—NEC member LIU Brooklyn and the Division II program at LIU Post—into a single Division I program under the LIU name. The new LIU program, whose nickname has not yet been determined, will maintain LIU Brooklyn's existing memberships in Division I and the NEC.[6]

Men's lacrosse became the league's 23rd sport for the 2011 season.[7] The number of sports dropped to 22 after the 2012–13 school year, when the conference dropped field hockey. The departure of Monmouth and Quinnipiac to become all-sports members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in July 2013 gave the MAAC four full members that sponsored the sport; the other two were NEC single-sport affiliates Rider and Siena. The MAAC then decided to add field hockey as a sponsored sport for the 2013 season,[8] and all of the NEC's remaining field hockey programs eventually joined the MAAC except for Saint Francis (PA), which joined the Atlantic 10 Conference. The NEC will reinstate field hockey as a sponsored sport for the 2019 season with seven members—current full members Bryant, LIU, Sacred Heart, and Wagner (which will play its first varsity season in 2019), incoming full member Merrimack, and associate members Fairfield and Rider.[9]

There are also four affiliate members which compete in football, men's lacrosse, and women's bowling.

Membership timeline

Full membersFull members (non-football)Football AffiliateAffiliate member (other sports)Other ConferenceOther Conference

Sports

The Northeast Conference currently sponsors championship competition in 10 men's and 12 women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[13] Four schools are associate members in three of those sports.

The NEC will reinstate field hockey as a sponsored sport for the 2019 season (2019–20 school year) after having dropped the sport following the 2012 season. Bryant, LIU, Sacred Heart, and Wagner will be joined by incoming full member Merrimack and incoming associates Fairfield and Rider.[9]

^Fencing is a coeducational sport, with schools having men's and women's squads and all individual matches involving members of the same sex. While three NEC members sponsor fencing, with the unified LIU athletic program to add LIU Post's existing team once the athletic merger takes effect, only Sacred Heart fields both men's and women's squads.

^LIU Post currently sponsors this sport. LIU has yet to announce this team's future conference affiliation.

^St. Francis Brooklyn will add men's volleyball for the 2020 season (2019–20 school year).[14]

^Fencing is a coeducational sport, with schools having men's and women's squads and all individual matches involving members of the same sex. Of the three NEC members that sponsor the sport, Sacred Heart has both men's and women's squads, and Fairleigh Dickinson and Wagner field only women's squads.

^ abcdWill become a member of the revived NEC field hockey league in 2019.

^Before the LIU athletic merger was announced, LIU Brooklyn committed to adding women's ice hockey for the 2019–20 season, with the new team to participate in the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA). At the time LIU Brooklyn announced the addition of women's hockey, the NEWHA was a scheduling agreement between all schools that played the sport as independents at the National Collegiate level (Divisions I and II).[16] The NEWHA has since formally organized as a conference and is seeking official NCAA recognition as such for 2019–20 and beyond.[17]

^The merged LIU athletic program will add women's water polo in the 2019–20 season. The new team will compete as an associate member of the MAAC.[18]

NEC Rivalries

Before the 2013 departure of Monmouth and Quinnipiac, the NEC had 6 rivalry matchups in the conference; which is most prevalent during NEC's men's and women's basketball "Rivalry Week." The concept of playing back-to-back games against a local rival the same week is the only one of its kind among the nation's 31 NCAA Division I conferences. The pre-2013 NEC rivalries are as follows (with the current NEC team listed first in the matchups that are now non-conference):

Brenda Weare Commissioner's Cup

The NEC Commissioner's Cup was instituted during the 1986-87 season with Long Island winning the inaugural award. Cup points are awarded in each NEC sponsored sport. For men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, football, women's bowling, softball, men's and women's lacrosse, and baseball, the final regular season standings are used to determine Cup points. Starting with the 2012-13 season, the Conference began awarding three bonus points to the NEC Tournament champion in those sports. In all other sports, points are awarded based on the finish at NEC Championship events.

Year

Overall

Men's

Women's

2015-16

2014-15

Bryant

Bryant

Sacred Heart

2013-14

Bryant

Bryant

Saint Francis (PA)

2012-13

Monmouth

Monmouth

Saint Francis (PA)

2011-12

Sacred Heart

Monmouth

Sacred Heart

2010-11

Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

2009-10

Sacred Heart

Monmouth

Sacred Heart

2008-09

Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

2007-08

Sacred Heart

Monmouth

Sacred Heart

2006-07

Monmouth

Monmouth

Sacred Heart

2005-06

Monmouth

Monmouth

Long Island

2004-05

Monmouth

Monmouth

Saint Francis (PA)

2003-04

Monmouth

Monmouth

Sacred Heart

2002-03

UMBC

Monmouth

UMBC

2001-02

UMBC

Monmouth

UMBC

2000-01

UMBC

UMBC

UMBC

1999-2000

UMBC

UMBC

UMBC

1998-99

UMBC

Monmouth

UMBC

1997-98

Monmouth

1996-97

Mount St. Mary's

1995-96

Mount St. Mary's

1994-95

Mount St. Mary's

1993-94

Fairleigh Dickinson

1992-93

Fairleigh Dickinson

1991-92

Fairleigh Dickinson

1990-91

Monmouth

1989-90

Fairleigh Dickinson

1988-89

Fairleigh Dickinson

1987-88

Fairleigh Dickinson

1986-87

Long Island

Facilities

Future member Merrimack in gray. The future LIU football program, currently representing LIU Post, is also highlighted in gray.

^Robert Morris expected to open the UPMC Events Center, with an expected capacity of over 4,000, during the 2018–19 basketball season. Due to construction delays that will push back the opening into summer 2019, the school chose to use the Student Recreation and Fitness Center, a facility at the on-campus North Athletic Complex that opened in 2017 as part of the UPMC Events Center project, in 2018–19. RMU also used this facility for women's basketball in 2017–18.